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Formula One: Romain Grosjean and Lotus quickest in Barcelona test

Romain Grosjean had a great day Thursday, leading the final 2012 Formula One test session in Barcelona. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Romain Grosjean topped the times for Lotus as the crucial final 2012 test session kicked off in Barcelona on Thursday.

Over the course of the four days drivers are expected to explore the qualifying-spec potential of their cars, although as always, there may be some sandbagging with top teams running extra fuel loads.

The Marussia and HRT teams are not in Barcelona, but the Spanish outfit says it might finish its new car in time for Sunday.

Lotus had missed the whole of the last test at the same venue after suffering a suspension-mounting problem, but that has now been rectified, and the E20 is again showing the sort of form it demonstrated at the first test in Jerez. The Franco-Swiss driver did his time on soft tires as conditions cooled off near the end of the afternoon.

“The car was feeling very good, and it’s great to bounce back from our dramas to set the fastest time of the day,” Grosjean said. “It’s clear we have solved the problem we encountered and now we have to complete a very full test program this week. The feeling in the team is fantastic and it’s like last week’s issues never happened.

“My crew told me that the problems would make us stronger, and this is true. The chassis is stronger, and all the team is stronger. We gathered good data today and we have a few interesting things that we would like to confirm tomorrow which should help us make a good step forwards.”

Jenson Button had been quickest for McLaren until that point, and the Briton remained in second place. However, he completed only 64 laps, half of the total that some others managed.

McLaren team manager Dave Redding insisted that everything was running to plan: “Having completed more than 2,000 km at Barcelona last week, today was always going to be more about quality than quantity. We wanted to drill a little deeper into our understanding of the car, and that meant undertaking some bigger setup changes that wouldn’t ordinarily be available to us during a Grand Prix weekend.”

Sergio Pérez, who didn’t use the soft tire at all, was third for Sauber.

“I think this was a very good day for me,” the Mexican driver said. “The car was performing well under varying conditions. We are working in the right direction, and I’m very much looking forward to getting into the car again for my final day of testing on Saturday.”

Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull and implied that the team still has some work to do, given the short test program.

“We’re here at the last test now. It’s starting to build up for the first race, and we’re pretty excited for that. However, we still have plenty to go through this week but so far so good.

“We certainly have a few more boxes to tick. We have some crucial data to gather this week and the next three days will be really important. We’re learning every run and we are making progress I think.

“There are so many things to consider when we have a condensed winter program like this. You need to get your priorities right and concentrate on those. That’s where experience comes in and we have plenty of that. It’s going well so far but there aren’t enough hours in the day at the moment, though I’m sure we’re not the only team feeling that.”

Nico Rosberg was fifth for Mercedes after completing 128 laps, more than any other driver.

“We were able to complete a lot of laps and tried a few different things which worked out well,” Rosberg said. “Some of the evaluations were really interesting, which makes the day good fun for me, and it’s nice to find out what the car can do.

“We had no reliability problems which is good as it’s important to get mileage on the car. We are making progress, but we don’t know really where we are compared to the others. It will be interesting to find out at the first race.”

Jean-Éric Vergne was sixth in the Toro Rosso as the team switched its focus to setup and race work from proving new components.

“It was a good day, and I completed more laps than on any of my other times in the car so far,” the Frenchman said. “I am feeling more confident and comfortable and I think we are also making steady progress on car development. The pit stops are also getting better and were an improvement on last week here.”

Paul Di Resta was seventh-fastest for Force India after what the team reported was a successful day.

“The final test is all about adding new parts to the car, seeing how they perform and getting our setup sorted for Melbourne,” Di Resta said. “I think we have a good idea of where we need to be based on the performance of the car today, and Nico will continue with that work tomorrow. As I said last week, we are definitely making progress in terms of performance and we’re getting a good understanding for the new 2012 tire constructions.”

Felipe Massa was eighth in the Ferrari, the team reporting that he worked on setup and long-distance runs.

Pastor Maldonado and Vitaly Petrov were the other drivers in action on Thursday. The latter was not supposed to run but was drafted into the Caterham, as Heikki Kovalainen was ill.